Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Purchased by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 33.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,152 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,082 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $760,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in Verizon Communications by 173.7% in the third quarter. Portland Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 652,169 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $21,137,000 after acquiring an additional 413,869 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 127,632 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $5,131,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Verizon Communications by 6.2% in the third quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 51,757 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares in the last quarter. GFS Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the fourth quarter worth $212,000. Finally, Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. purchased a new position in Verizon Communications in the third quarter worth $306,000. 62.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kyle Malady sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $604,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 59,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,387,576.33. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on VZ. Citigroup increased their price objective on Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $37.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Verizon Communications from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.21.

Verizon Communications Stock Performance

Shares of VZ opened at $39.49 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $166.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74. Verizon Communications Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.14 and a 1 year high of $43.42.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.23 billion. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.6 EPS for the current year.

Verizon Communications Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.665 per share. This represents a $2.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.74%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 99.25%.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).